The Malta Independent on Sunday carried a story about a park in St Julian’s.

It is an open space in an area of residences, an overlying bridge which is an important link in the national traffic network and a huge petrol station. Traffic is heavy, as the garden is in between two stretches of road that link San Gwann to Sliema/St Julian’s centre, and vice-versa.

But it provided residents in the vicinity some public space where one could read a book or a newspaper, take children to the playground and, generally speaking, offered some respite to the eyes from the buildings which keep growing higher.

A few years ago, the St Julian’s local council decided to give the area a revamp. The benches had become uncomfortable, the playing area needed to be modernised, and the whole park was to be embellished.

The intentions were good.

But what happened?

The work started a few months before the 2022 election, and residents were told that it was to be completed before they went to vote. This did not happen, and as time passed it was clear that something was wrong. Workers stopped turning up, the project was abandoned, and the area turned into a dumping site.

We now know, according to mayor Guido Dalli, that there was a mistake in the tendering process. The cost of the paving works had not been listed as it should have been, and there is now a dispute between the council and the company entrusted with the job.

The project, already delayed by a year, can continue only after the matter is resolved. The mayor is confident that work can continue by summer, but we’re not too sure this will happen. We know that, in Malta, these things take a long time to be sorted out.

In the meantime, the whole park is now a mess. It is ringed by a fence (broken in some places) and, with all the building material that has been left on the site, as well as the shrubs and trees that have been allowed to overgrow, the park is unusable and unsafe.

The residents and others who made regular use of the park have been deprived of its use, for at least 18 months now, which will probably double by the time something is done.

But what is worse is that the perimeter of the shabby, dilapidated and neglected park has now become a dumping site. The council has been informed about it but unwanted items continue to be discarded against the fence. The pavement has also been broken by the heavy vehicles that were driven over them. It has become dangerous to walk there.

When work on a particular project is delayed – be it because of a mistake, as we’re told happened in this case, or for whatever other reason – it is always the residents who have to pay the price. They are the ones who have to deal with the situation because they have to face the eyesore, and the discomfort, each time they leave from or return to their homes.